Determining the fire-damage temperature of concrete by inclusion decrepitation

This paper describes a new method for accurately determining the highest temperature experienced by fire-damaged concrete by measuring acoustic decrepitation of fluid inclusion in natural quartz sand contained in the concrete. Based on the experimental research on natural sand used for building from different regions in China, the authors demonstrated that large amounts of fluid inclusions exist in natural quartz sand and that the decrepitation of inclusions during heating are irretrievable. Furthermore, the decrepitation temperatures are material characteristics not affected by heating. Some engineering applications have demonstrated that this method is an effective and convenient technique for determining the highest temperature experienced by fire-damaged concrete. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.